to concert the means of delivering
the important post he commanded to the British general.

Major John Andre, an aid-de-camp of Sir Henry Clinton, and adjutant
general of the British army, was selected as the person to whom the
maturing of Arnold's treason, and the arrangements for its execution
should be entrusted. A correspondence was carried on between them
under a mercantile disguise, in the feigned names of Gustavus and
Anderson; and, at length, to facilitate their communications, the
Vulture sloop of war moved up the North River, and took a station
convenient for the purpose, but not so near as to excite suspicion.

[Sidenote: Treason and escape of Arnold.]

The time when General Washington met the Count de Rochambeau at
Hartford was selected for the final adjustment of the plan; and, as a
personal interview was deemed necessary, Major Andre came up the
river, and went on board the Vulture. The house of a Mr. Smith,
without the American posts, was appointed for the interview; and to
that place both parties repaired in the night--Andre being brought
under a pass for John Anderson, in a boat despatched from the shore.
While the conference was yet unfinished, day light approached; and, to
avoid discovery, Arnold proposed that Andre should remain concealed
until the succeeding night. He is understood to have refused
peremptorily to be carried within the American posts; but the promise
to respect this objection was not observed. They continued together
the succeeding day; and when, in the following night, his return to
the Vulture was proposed, the boatmen refused to carry him because she
had shifted her station during the day, in consequence of a gun which
was moved to the shore without the knowledge of Arnold, and brought
to bear upon her. This embarrassing circumstance reduced him to the
necessity of endeavouring to reach New York by land. To accomplish
this purpose, he reluctantly yielded to the urgent representations of
Arnold; and, laying aside his regimentals, which he had hitherto worn
under a surtout, put on a plain suit of clothes, and received a pass
from General Arnold, authorizing him, under the name of John Anderson,
to proceed on the public service to the White Plains, or lower if he
thought proper.

With this permit, he had passed all the guards and posts on the road
unsuspected, and was proceeding to New York in perfect security, when
one of three militia men who were employed between the lines of